community history

A densely wooded swath of land between Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish, the area where Bellevue now stands was sparsely settled before the 1900s. If the thick forest weren't imposing enough, large boggy areas could intimidate would-be settlers. Native American tribes in the region favored the coast to the west and the plains east of the mountains.

In 1867 coal was discovered in the Coal Creek area, and white settlers began to arrive as extensive mining got underway at the Newcastle Coal Mine. William Meydenbauer and Aaron Mercer, wealthy adventurers from Seattle, staked large claims here in 1869. Over the next 40 years, other white settlers, including Civil War veterans awarded homesteads for their service, trickled into the vicinity.

Logging, almost by necessity, joined mining as an early occupation on the Eastside, as the settlers needed to clear land for their farms. During that period, the area got a post office and a schoolhouse. In the 1880s, the village got a name. Conflicting accounts attribute the name Bellevue ("Beautiful View" in French) to the view from the new post office's window or to the city in Indiana of the same name from which prominent settlers came.

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“From offer to close it only took about 4 weeks, which is pretty darn quick :-) Thank you so much!! “

- Crystal, wa

resources

Every January it seems like a wave of "New Year, New You" ads and articles hits our social feeds and inboxes. The idea is that we've crossed a threshold and can focus on self-improvement. We can really get serious about losing that weight, starting a yoga practice, learning a foreign language, writing that book, etc., etc., etc.

There’s no question, we are living in an environment of rising interest rates. But what does that actually mean? Many consumers start to worry about their buying power when they see the news reports of increasing rates.